1) Field of the Disclosure
The disclosure relates generally to duct assemblies and methods, and more specifically, to air duct assemblies and methods for environmental control systems that may be rapidly installed and removed in air vehicles and other vehicles and structures.
2) Description of Related Art
Ducts for transporting air and other liquids or gases are commonly used in various applications. For example, cylindrical or tubular ducts used in environmental control systems (ECS) in air vehicles, such as aircraft and rotorcraft, may be used to transport air to an interior passenger cabin and to interior cargo compartments in the air vehicle. Such cylindrical or tubular air ducts are generally connected to an air source and typically have one or more nozzles for distributing the air throughout the interior passenger cabin and cargo compartments.
Conditioned air from the ECS packs below a wing of an air vehicle must be transported to plenums above passenger cabin lining panels for distribution. Typically, this has been accomplished by using aircraft-mounted rigid round ducts, also known as “riser ducts”. However, such riser ducts may be very large in size and their use may result in passenger windows being removed from one or more “frame bays” they occupy, as they allow no room for the window structure.
Moreover, known custom-made ducts with deformed shapes exist that may be used in environmental control systems in air vehicles. However, such known custom-made ducts may require special tooling and production processes for mounting and installation, due to trapped volume shapes and complex construction. Such special tooling and production processes may result in expensive material and production costs and increased time and labor to mount and install the ducts.
In addition, known cylindrical or tubular ducts used in environmental control systems in air vehicles may be mounted to or installed in the airframe of the air vehicle and may typically require various support assemblies for such mounting and installation. However, such support assemblies may consist of a substantial number of parts or may be sized for mounting only specific ducts of certain shapes and sizes. This may result in increased material costs, increased installation times, and increased labor costs associated with such mounting and installation.
Further, known closed curve or closed shape ducts typically duplicate the “wall” of a panel structure, lining, or surface that they are mounted to. This may waste valuable integration volume and may increase an overall weight of a structure to which the ducts are being installed in, such as an air vehicle or other vehicle or structure. Increased weight of an air vehicle, for example, may result in increased fuel consumption, which, in turn, may result in increased fuel costs.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for improved air duct assemblies and methods of installing such air duct assemblies that provide advantages over known assemblies and methods.